From being in the lead to losing in controversy. The Lions fell short to their rivals the Green Bay Packers 22-23 on ”Monday Night Football.”
With this loss, Detroit now sits in last place in the NFC North division with a record of 2-2-1. The Packers, on the other hand, remain in first place at 5-1.
Throughout the game, the Lions had their chances. Quarterback, Matthew Stafford accommodated for 265 yards passing and only one single touchdown.
A side note to this game is the Lions stringing together seven first downs in the first quarter and ending the rest of the game with six more.
The Lions only touchdown came from running back Kerryon Johnson on a 1-yard run. Johnson, who averaged 2.6 yards on 13 attempts had only 34 rushing yards.
On the other side of the ball, The Lions were stagnant for most of the game. Forcing one interception, a sack, and two fumble recoveries. But that wasn’t good enough. A couple of bad calls and a few touchdowns passes from the “bad man” himself, Aaron Rodgers led to Lion’s ultimate demise. One of the many bad calls against the Lions was, an unnecessary roughness call on safety, Tracy walker as he crashed into packers receiver, Geronimo Allison. Walker, was immediately charged with a 15-yard penalty. After the game, Walker said,
“Awful. It was an awful call,” Walker said. “I felt like I went for the ball and [it] just so happened we collided, but I was looking for the ball. It was an awful call by them. It is what it is, though.”
The next two penalties weren’t so pleasing. Lions defensive end, Trey Flowers was flagged twice on two third down plays that were questionable. Those penalties consequently lead to the Packers game-winning field goal by, Mason Crosby.
Trey Flowers said about the penalties that, “Nah, I didn’t think hands to the chest was a penalty. I thought hands to the face. But I had them right here on the chest. Second time I changed it to right here.”
The penalties weren’t the only reason the Lions lost. It was consecutive trips to the red zone that didn’t convert into six points but instead, a luxury of five field goals made by Matt Prater.
